Every fan's story is unique as to how they embrace an allegiance to a particular professional sports team or collegiate program, many of us could probably write a book on that very experience in our own lives.

We're having a very spirited discussion about that very thing over at Blazertalk, and being a huge Conference USA fan, I was inspired to visit some of its' representatives online and ask them the same thing. You guys/gals have been most accommodating in previous encounters here, very much appreciated, and this is just another facet in my effort to get to know my favorite conference a little better...So, if it's not an imposition...How did you come to join "The Herd?" ;-) Thanks in advance...

Sounds good to me!

I was born the day before Marshall won the 1992 1-AA Natl Championship (Decemember 18th, 1992; champ was 19th). There was a picture a few days later on the front page of the Herald Dispatch of me and the other Natty babies decked out in Marshall gear. My family isn't from this area, but my father came here for school and became a huge fan and kind of passed it down to me. I grew up watching Chad Pennington to Moss and Poole, Leftwich to Watts and Merriot. It was amazing.

How did you become a UAB fan out of curiosity. Doesn't seem like the popular thing to do down in Bammer.

I had no clue who Marshall was until about 2003 or 04, I am from Virginia so MU was not really known. I started becoming a fan after watching a bunch of ESPN MAC Thursday night football and I just fell in love with the school. I had dreams of playing for them or walking on to the team but after my senior year of football in 2005 I tore my ACL and that was that, most painful thing was I had my surgery the same day of the K-State game in Huntington. I knew MU was the school for me since in Junior Year of high school I applied and was accepted. Probably the best MU thing I got was an autograph picture of Bobby Pruiett as a gift for making Eagle Scout.

(08-06-2012 07:39 PM)lmckay92 Wrote:  Sounds good to me!

I was born the day before Marshall won the 1992 1-AA Natl Championship (Decemember 18th, 1992; champ was 19th). There was a picture a few days later on the front page of the Herald Dispatch of me and the other Natty babies decked out in Marshall gear. My family isn't from this area, but my father came here for school and became a huge fan and kind of passed it down to me. I grew up watching Chad Pennington to Moss and Poole, Leftwich to Watts and Merriot. It was amazing.

How did you become a UAB fan out of curiosity. Doesn't seem like the popular thing to do down in Bammer.

Wow! 1992? You're a "Young Bison"! I love the fact that your origin was very much like a family heirloom passed on and genuinely embraced as opposed to imposed upon (more on that later) you. You got me at your question and what you said at the end of it, and you are so precise in your assessment, you root for anything not crimson and white around here and you get the look from many of these people, especially its' myopic sports media, save for a couple of personalities.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, not every citizen in this state is either an Auburn or alabama fan, and you HAVE to pick which one...I chose, "None of the above!!" Although I attended UAB sporting events dating back to the first Bartow-coached basketball team, I didn't really consider myself a UAB fan, they were more of a "filler" for me here, a way to kill time, because I was so into professional sports, of which Birmingham has none, that UAB wasn't very high on my fan radar. But that began to change over time, and in addition to having gotten much older and grown to the realization that Birmingham was never going to clear that major league sports hurdle, I gradually began to appreciate their presence here more, for even though they weren't winning as much as they could have, they were fighting hard & filling a huge void in my life in an otherwise desolate town,and that is its' sports climate, not alabama (got nothing against Auburn because they're considered allies in a way to UAB, but I couldn't embrace the SEC) it was the sincere push and promotion of the athletic program by a diehard(and when I say that about this guy, you can take it to the bank!) UAB fan originally from Montreal that inspired me to drop any of my sports inhibitions and become a total Blazers fan, this is going on close to 10 years now, I've since become a season ticket holder for men's and women's basketball as well as football, and joined Blazer Boosters back in February of this year. I occasionally take my now-6 year old to some games, she loves "Blaze" (our mascot) , but hasn't grasped the sports culture enough just yet to become a "young dragon"...Someday, perhaps...Time will tell..We need all the fans we can get...And yes, most UAB fans hate alabama with a Green and Gold passion!!! ;-) And my car is a "rolling billboard" for UAB, to include the license plate with the Dragon logo on it,b bumper stickers, a green vuvuzela, a stuffed dragon, green and gold pom-poms, posters of sports teams, a UAB banner and several choice signs hanging in the rear window, plus I also make sure I'm wearing something with UAB colors and/or logo on it so one of these "Magoos" won't walk up to me on the street and ask me "alabama or Auburn?" anymore, I really got sick of that, some of them actually are so ignorant to think that you are required to pledge your allegiance to one of them, and have the nerve to act offended when you look them in the eye and proudly tell them you don't, that's one of the things I feel especially good about being a UAB fan.In addition, I've been an announcer for the campus internet radio station (BlazeRadio) for going on 11 years now, I host a jazz program that usually airs on Sunday afternoons/evenings, but yes, every chance I get, I plug our sports teams on the air, shamelessly!

I love to bring signs to games, so my mission (and I choose to accept it!) is to bring back the sign to sporting events, it's become a lost art these days...Thank you for asking, I love your origin story, like I said, it reads so genuine.

Ive been dawning the Green and White since I can remember. I was born in late 1971. I can remember watching Marshall in the early 80s to mid 80s on tape delay at 11:30 on Sat night. I wouldn't watch TV except for morming cartoons because I was afraid to see the score.

I have been to 3 of Marshall's historical games/moments. I was at the Henderson Center in 1984 when Marshall took down #7 Marquette lead by coach Rick Majerus. Also in the Henderson Center in Feb 1985 to watch the shot Herd round the world, when Bruce Morris hit an 89'10 shot against Appy State at the end of the 1st half. At the time it was a world record. I was also in Joan C Edwards Stadium to watch "The Kick". The play Im refering to is a field goal by Willie Merrick to win the IAA National Ttile in 1992, its simply known as "The Kick". Willie Merrick had never kicked a FG at the college level. His brother was the regular FG kicker but had been suspended by coach Jim Donnan for not making curfew.




The Kick

As you can tell from my handle I am a band geek and that is really how I got to know about Marshall. During HS our band had went to the Tri-State Marching band festival that Marshall holds to compete. After it was over a man caught me outside and said he had been watching us warm up and would love for me to join them when I graduated. Turns out that was Dr. Barnett the Marching Thunders director. That definitely got me interested in Marshall and I joined the Herd in 2009. As a plus Joan C Edwards stadium opened the year I was born in 91.

I was born in 1982 and grew up in Logan, WV. I was raised in a blue and gold, WVU family through-and-through but never really cared for sports at all after I stopped playing tee ball and buddy league basketball. In high school, there was some state/regional academics competition at Marshall that I was on a team for and we traveled there for a long day of competitions. The 'events' were spread out through the course of the day and I only participated in half of them or less so the rest of my time was spent wandering around campus and playing TONS of foosball in the basement of the student center. I fell in love with the campus and it was far enough from Logan to get me away from there while being close enough to go home when I wanted. I lived in Huntington between 2000 and 2008, graduating in 2005 and those 8 years were probably the best time of my life.

Back to my sports note - I finally got way, WAY into college football in 2006 (Marshall's first non-winning season in something like 15 or 20 years). Ever since that year, I'm firmly of the belief that I have a sports curse - everywhere I go, the local teams do terribly at some point (Jacksonville Jaguars from 2008 - 2011, Bulls losing in the first round of the playoffs this year, the Bears going on a 5 or 6-game losing streak right after we found a place in November 2011, Blackhawks losing in the first round of the playoffs this year, the Cubs being the Cubs). I've only seen two winning seasons as a diehard Marshall football fan and those were only because we won our bowl games against Ohio and FIU. I've been ecstatic at Marshall's recent, seemingly consistent basketball success.

(08-07-2012 12:03 PM)RedParallax Wrote:  Back to my sports note - I finally got way, WAY into college football in 2006 (Marshall's first non-winning season in something like 15 or 20 years).

That would be 22 straight years without a losing record.

Where in Logan did you live, I have family in Logan and Im orig from Danville in Boone Co.

(08-07-2012 12:41 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(08-07-2012 12:03 PM)RedParallax Wrote:  Back to my sports note - I finally got way, WAY into college football in 2006 (Marshall's first non-winning season in something like 15 or 20 years).

That would be 22 straight years without a losing record.

Where in Logan did you live, I have family in Logan and Im orig from Danville in Boone Co.

I lived, and parents still live, in West Logan across the river from the CSX yard at Peach Creek. They're maybe a block or two north of the Peach Creek bridge.

Where in Logan does your family live?

I have an aunt that lives in a house right across from the babtist church in downtown Logan on Stratton street. But for years she lived in an aprt. above the hearing center, which used to be KitCat clothing.

I became a life long committed fan on that first Saturday in 1968, when I, as a freshman, went to my first Herd game...a 7-7 tie against Morehead as I remember. This was following many years of losing seasons and the future looked very bright on that date, although we lost all of the remaining games that year..and old Fairfield stadium was a morass of mud on that particular day. There have been the highest of highs and lowest of lows since that date, but my faithfulness to Marshall has been unshakeable since then. My hope today...a CUSA championship and dominance in the league (a la Southern Miss) before I depart for that great stadium in the sky. I love Marshall sports and am one fan that believes CUSA is a perfect conference for us.

Go Herd!

I came to Marshall in 1973 to walk on the football team. I had scholarships to several of the WVAIC schools and Holy Cross but since I was the bread winner for my mom and two brothers, I had to stay close to Charleston. The only way I could play is if they gave me a full ride and at that time (still rebuilding after the crash), Marshall just didn't have the money (or so they said). I worked out with the team for two years. I used to walk to Fairfield on Saturdays, hung over to beat hell, and lie on one of the bleachers and sleep until I heard the cheering. Most of the time it was just a first down but our expectations weren't too high back then. I ended up working my way through school as a relief manager for Shoneys Stores 110 and 111 (5th ave and 29th st), so I didn't get the full college experience. The towers were new (only a couple years old when I was there) and I stayed there until graduating in 1976. My mom was a huge WVU fan and my youngest brother graduated from there. My middle brother married a Marshall girl so she has converted him. I've been a fan for nearly 40 years (wow) and will never forsake the Herd. Marshall true till the day I die!

My Dad was a Sgt. with the Marshall Police (Security I guess they were called back then) and he took me to work with him many times. I kind of grew up on the campus...many nights in Gullickson Hall playing basketball, bowling and games in the student center (I think that's where the bowling lanes were located) and many many hours in Old Main. I got to meet alot of the coaching staffs and players from different sports and some called me by name when they saw me. On game days I got to ride insto Fairfield stadium in a cruiser and every now and then an ambulance. I thought it was a big deal back then and still do. I've still got alot of old programs that I used to get autographs from players to include Mike D'Antoni, Russell Lee, Bill James and a guy that ALWAYS got a huge roaring ovation every time he entered a game or even touched the basketball, Willie Wilcox.
I couldn't imagine NOT cheering for THE HERD as my heart will always BLEED GREEN!!

Came to Marshall in 1977 when most of my High School friends went to Morgantown; they were and are sooo obnoxious! Lived in Hodges Hall (non-athlete). Lived with those guys, still see many of them today. The Herd's record was 6-37-1 over the next 4 years. One bright spot... 3 straight wins over Toledo! Yikes!! Many days at Fairfeild, watching the University go through everything it did... These guys made you love the University. They worked hard and realized little support, except from the devoted. No tee-shirt fans then! LOVE THIS UNIVERSITY!!!!!